United States | H-2B visa processing times update as of Feb. 27

The Department of Labor (DOL) reported that as of Feb. 27, 2025, a total of 5,899 cases were issued Final Decision for fiscal year (FY) 2025 (first half of the visa cap) with a Requested Date of Need from Oct. 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025. Certified positions for this period were allocated for 110,297 workers.

The chart below indicates the number of Final Decisions issued and Positions Certified for filing windows from July 2024 to February 2025:

*Indicates a change in November– January case and worker numbers from those reported as of Feb. 13.

**As of COB Feb. 27, there were no Final Decisions issued or Positions Certified, although six cases were submitted and there were positions requested for 83 workers.

As of Jan. 7, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received enough petitions to reach the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of FY 2025 with start dates on or before March 31, 2025.

For FY 2025 second half of the visa cap, DOL processing of Group A increased to 1,855 total cases issued a Final Decision and Positions Certified for 26,279 workers. Group B increased to 773 total cases issued a Final Decision and Positions Certified for 11,046 workers.

DOL is still processing Groups C–G for applications received for Requested Date of Need from April 1, 2025.

Background on Assignment Groups: The initial H-2B Assignment Group (i.e., Group A) will always include the number of H-2B applications containing a sufficient amount of worker positions to reach the applicable numerical visa cap, even if the numerical limits of the Immigration and Nationality Act are subsequently changed. Additional Assignment Groups are assigned in ascending sequential order for all remaining H-2B applications that were filed during the initial three-day filing window that requested the earliest start date of work permitted. Each H-2B Assignment Group after Group A (e.g., Group B, Group C, etc.) will total no more than 20,000 worker positions, or roughly 1,000 applications per group. More background on H-2B Temporary Labor Certification Program and the origin of Assignment Groups can be found here.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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